You'll Always Be My Baby
by kawaii baby
Summary: Wow.....I actually uploaded something new.....
1. Prologue

I don't own it; I only wish I could…

I don't own it; I only wish I could….But I'm just a poor little chibi without two nickels to rub together…..Ah well! Enjoy!

A/N: Just so ya know, this starts out in the hospital. The first paragraph is just a bit of a recap type thing….I do have more to this, but since I will be leaving for my vacation tomorrow it will be a couple of weeks before I get any more up…..I know it's really short so far, but it's like 2 AM here, so I do have a reason for that. Anyway, this is just a prologue. 

They were together again, all of them. Duo, Hilde, Quatre, Dorothy, Trowa, Catherine, Wufei, Sally; the whole bunch. It was the first time they had been together since New Year's, when first Heero and Relena had announced their engagement, and then Relena had stated that she was pregnant. The first announcement was unexpected enough, but the second one had really been a surprise, even to Heero. Milliardo had been less than thrilled, but with seven months to get used to the idea he had decided to leave well enough alone. And Heero had proven himself and his love for Relena time and again, as well.

"It's a girl," Heero said as he burst through the doors that led to the waiting room. Everyone crowded around him, asking questions and yelling congratulations.

"You know, you can just go see the baby. Well, if you want to, that is," Heero finally said after all the commotion had died down.

"Of course we want to see her! Why didn't you say that in the first place?" Duo half yelled.

Hilde elbowed him in the ribs. "Duo, we're going to see a baby, not a football game. You have to be quiet!"

"Ow! Alright, alright, I get the point!" Duo replied, not much quieter. Hilde glared at him, and Duo responded with puppy dog eyes.

"Don't look at me like that, Duo! Just be quiet for once!" Hilde moaned. Wufei muttered something snide at the back of the crowd and Sally gave him a dirty look.

"Just for that, Chang Wufei, you are sleeping on the couch for the next week!"

"Oooh, busted, Wu-man!" Duo said quietly. Wufei muttered something else which the others chose to ignore.

Relena was propped up in the hospital bed, a little bundle of blankets in her arms. She smiled tiredly as the group filed into the room. "Everyone, meet Faith," she said quietly.

Duo was the only one who came close; the others had chosen to admire the baby from afar. "Aww….she's so cute! Can I hold her? Just for a minute?"

"Be careful with her, Duo," Relena replied, still smiling as she passed little Faith to Duo.

"Just so you know, Duo, we've talked and decided that when we need a babysitter we're calling you," Heero said from his spot next to Relena.

"Alright! ….But why?"

"Because you locked us in that bathroom. If it hadn't been for you, Duo, I never would have had her," Relena said.

"Yeah. And I probably wouldn't have proposed so soon either. We thought we owed you this much."

"Well, I'm happy as long as Faith's happy," Duo babbled to her in baby talk, and this time no one missed Wufei's muttered comment.

"Look, Maxwell's finally found somebody near his own mentality to play with. Well, for a year or two anyway. Then he'll be all alone again."

"Wufei! That was more than just uncalled for, that was downright cruel! Would you want to hear something like that if you were in Heero and Relena's place, Wufei?" Sally demanded.

"Well, I am not in their place, woman, so I do not have to worry about that now do I?" Wufei replied coldly.

"How would you know, Wufei? What if you're about to be in their place?" Sally taunted. Wufei paled.

"Y-you're not…..p-pregnant, are you?" he stammered before collapsing.

"No, I'm not, I just wanted to see what you would do," Sally replied to Wufei's unconscious form. "Trowa, Quatre, can you please take Wufei back to the waiting room for me and sit with him until he wakes up? And be careful, he might not be in the best of moods if you know what I mean…"

"Can do, Sally," Quatre said cheerfully. He and Trowa each took one of Wufei's arms and dragged him out of the room. Duo laughed and handed Faith back to Relena.

"Good one, Sally. I'll have to remember that," Duo grinned at her. 

"Too bad we didn't have a camera," Hilde commented. "I would have loved to get a picture of his expression right before he passed out! That was priceless!"

"You're right, Hilde. But we really should get going. Relena and Faith need to rest, and I'm sure Heero's tired too. Come on," Sally said. "I'll have to enlist Trowa and Quatre to get Wufei out to the car, too."

The group filed out of the room again, leaving the happy family alone. Heero sat with Relena until she fell asleep, then plucked Faith out of her arms and put her in the crib on the other side of the room. Everything was as it should be, and Heero thought that maybe his life had just gotten a little better.


	2. Chapter 1-Big, bad butterflies

A/N: Here it is, my second fic

A/N Oops….I totally screwed up my summary last time……Heero and Relena don't die, they find out the hard way that they're both in danger, and Faith could be hurt if she stays close to them, so they go into hiding and Faith stays with Duo. But all will be explained later. Better now? Sorry!!! And sorry about the cliffhanger ending and how short this is, but I'm leaving in the morning, and I really have to pack!!!

~Two years later~ (After the prologue)

Duo laughed at Faith's silly baby face. They were in the park together while Heero and Relena were attending a conference with colony leaders. Two year old Faith was trying to find bugs for Duo while they waited for her parents. He didn't mind babysitting her at all; if fact, after two years of being around Duo more than Heero or Relena, Faith had started pushing her parents away and clinging to Duo instead. Not that he minded at all; Faith was a sweetheart, everybody but Wufei seemed to love her. Wufei just pushed her away whenever she came near.

"Ladybug!" Faith shrieked happily. She held out a leafy branch that held a squirming caterpillar for Duo to see.

"No, no, sweetheart. That's not a ladybug," Duo looked down at Faith's baby face as she thought about what he'd said.

"Not a ladybug?" Faith asked hesitantly. She looked up at Duo with those puppy dog eyes he had found he couldn't resist. He scooped Faith up off the ground and plopped her down on his lap.

"No, that's a caterpillar, babe," Duo replied. 

"Kittypillow!" Faith giggled, making Duo laugh out loud again. She was so funny!

Duo tickled her, making her laugh louder and beg him to stop. He complied, and she turned around and tried to tickle him back. 

"Oh, somebody help!" Duo cried. "It's the Tickle Monster!" He laughed and Faith threw her arms around his neck.

"Silly Uncle Duo. No Tickle Monster. Oooh, pretty!"

Faith was looking up at something over Duo's head. He tried to turn and see what she was looking at, but he couldn't quite manage. "What's up there, babe? Is it a ladybug?"

"Bu'ffly! _Big_ bu'ffly!" Faith sounded scared. Duo tried to turn again, and this time managed to see Faith's "bu'fflies."They were huge ships, and with their bright mix of black and orange they did seem to resemble giant butterflies. After that, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The sky above them, previously clear and blue, was filled with thick, choking smoke, and Duo watched in horror as the building where the conference was being held began to slowly collapse. 

Duo grabbed Faith and started running for shelter. He crossed the street and ducked under an overpass climbing as far under it as he could, going on his hands and knees and pushing Faith in front of him, hoping they would be safe from flying debris. Unfortunately, another of the ships had chosen to blast the overpass. Duo clutched Faith against him and shielded her with his body, hoping desperately that they would be safe where they were. The last thing he remembered was Faith's scream before something hit him hard in the back of the head.


	3. Chapter 2-Duo's surprise

A/N: //sigh// What a kick in the ass…

A/N://sigh// What a kick in the ass….I don't get to go on my vacation after all. //weep// Now I'm stuck here at home all summer!! Still, it does give me more time to write…..Read and be happy…And I'll be happy if you review!! This chapter's kinda fluffy, and it really doesn't do much for the plot, but I think it's still necessary. And at the end, forgive me if I got the ring bit wrong…I don't know very much about jewelry…

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own em… Poor little chibi types like me don't own anything….sad, isn't it? Sadder yet, we all tend to be single, lonely people that have nothing better to do than sit around and write fanfiction. I know you are all totally shocked, traumatized, and mortified by this revelation, but try not to take it too hard-it might not be good for your health.

"Unhhhh," Duo moaned, trying to sit up. Gentle hands pushed him back down, and he opened his eyes to see Hilde sitting in a chair pulled next to his hospital bed.

"Don't get up, Duo. You may not feel anything now because of the painkillers, but you've got a major concussion, and you're just going to make things worse by moving around too much," she said softly.

"Hilde, how'd I get here? And where's Faith? She wasn't hurt, was she?" Duo wished he could forget the awful scene. And Heero and Relena were….

"Faith is here, Uncle Duo," Faith said. She clambered onto the bed and sat next to him. 

"She wasn't hurt too badly, Duo. She was knocked out, but came to about two days ago. I haven't been able to get her to go to sleep since, though…" Hilde trailed off.

"That's alright, babe. Just watch and learn," Duo said. "Come here and get next to me, Faith."

He pulled the sheets back on the bed as best as he could, and Faith obliged, curling up next to him. Duo covered her up and kept his arm over her, and she was sound asleep in a few minutes.

"Simple, Hilde. All you've got to do is get her warm, then she'll doze right off. It was probably too cold in here for her, that's why you couldn't get her to go to sleep." Duo paused. "Babe, did Heero and Relena…..?"

"I don't know, Duo….Only a few of the people at the conference survived the bombing, but their bodies were never found. Nobody knows if they're alive or dead….Trowa thinks that Heero probably had a way out, but what if he didn't? Oh, Duo…what's goingto happen to Faith if they couldn't get away?" Hilde asked.

"I bet they got away, Hilde. And if they didn't, well, Faith can stay with us. Well, unless Milliardo and Lu want her…..I mean, they are really related to her.."

"Yeah…But still, Duo, I can't help but feel sorry for her…" 

Little tears began to course down her cheeks, and Hilde sobbed softly, burying her face in the sheets. Duo ruffled his fingers through her hair and wished there was more he could do. Then he remembered. His surprise. The one he'd been saving for when the conference was over and he was home alone with Hilde.

"Baby, do you have any idea where my clothes are? The ones I was wearing when the building was bombed?" he asked. Hilde looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy. She shook her head.

"Sally might know. She was with the people who brought you in. Should I go ask?"

"Sure if you want to. It's not that important. I just want the stuff out of my pockets. You know, my wallet and all that." Duo grinned at Hilde, trying to tease her into a better mood.

"Why? There's nothing in your wallet, Duo." Hilde grinned back.

"Yes there is! I've got pictures of the world's most beautiful women in my wallet."

"Really, Duo? And who would that be? You in drag and Dr. J's grandmother?" Hilde asked derisively.

"No. The ones of me in drag are in that box in the….I've said too much…." Duo trailed off as Hilde started cackling loudly. "My wallet pictures are all of you and Faith."

"Aww….how sweet. I'll be right back, Duo. I'm gonna see if I can find Sally."

Hilde left, and Duo watched Faith sleep beside him. She sighed and turned over, and her long brown bangs fell over her closed eyes. She was really the spitting image of Heero, from her dark brown hair to her Prussian blue eyes. She'd even perfected the death glare. Duo wondered if Heero had been anything like Faith as a child. But probably not with the way he'd been raised.

"I'm back, Duo," Hilde said from the doorway. "Sally said that everything they found on you that looked worth keeping is under your pillow. Guess there wasn't much there, huh, Duo?"

"Oh, I wouldn't know about that, Hilde. But would you mind fishing my stuff out for me, since I'm not supposed to get up?" he asked, grinning at her again. Hilde sighed.

"I know that look, Duo. I bet you've got something really gross in there…" Hilde trailed off, reaching under the pillow and feeling around. Duo winced when she jostled him a little; the painkillers were wearing off, it seemed.

"Sorry, Duo….." Hilde murmured. "….your wallet doesn't seem to be under here. There's something else, though…"

"Get it out anyway, babe. I can always replace the pictures in my wallet with new ones. But that might be something a little more important."

"Here." Hilde plopped the small, battered black box into Duo's hand. He closed his fingers around it and smiled.

"Good. I was afraid this mighta been lost. It's very important. We've gotta protect it, Hilde. We just have to!" Duo said, mock serious.

"Why? What could possibly be in that beat-up old box that's worth keeping?"

"It's a surprise," he said softly, trying to sound mysterious. "But….you probably don't care, do you, Hilde?" He moved to shove the box under his pillow again, and Hilde raised her eyebrow.

"With you it all depends on the surprise, Duo. But what is it?"

"Well…..I might be able to tell you…But you have to answer my question first. Do ya wanna hear the question?"

Hilde thought for a moment. Knowing Duo this was some kind of a prank. But she nodded anyway, thinking to herself, _I hope this isn't something really perverted._

"I'm sorry I can't do this the right way, but I'm kinda stuck here, babe." Duo swallowed, and Hilde noticed that his face was turning red. _Oh no. This has to be another of his sick jokes. He only gets that expression when he's up to something really big._

"Hilde, baby….will you…um, er…heh heh…." Duo stopped and cleared his throat. He took a deep breath, and forced the words out as quickly as he could. "Will you marry me?"

Hilde's eyes widened in surprise and she gave a little gasp. _Definitely not what I was expecting,_ she thought. _But really, this is so much better._ She leaned over until she could rest her head on Duo's chest. 

"Yes," she murmured. "A thousand times yes."

"Then you get the surprise, Hilde. Happy?" Duo asked, flipping the box open and handing Hilde the engagement ring Faith had helped him pick out. He really did like Faith's decision, though. The ring had a slender gold clasp, with a single sapphire that exactly matched Hilde's eyes. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

"I can't imagine being happier, Duo," Hilde said, letting him put the ring on her finger. 

"Neither can I, babe. Neither can I," Duo replied with his trademark grin. 


	4. Chapter 3-Late night conversations

A/N: Having fun

A/N: Having fun? I really do hope you are. I certainly am. However, I wouldn't mind a few more reviews….So I'm going to try something a little different, just for this chapter. I might keep it up if I get a good response, though. I'm sure that a few of you know that I'm a spelling and grammar freak. Everything has to be just right or it bugs the hell out of me. Well, in this chapter, I've left one spelling mistake somewhere. The first person to spot it and review, with the error, can request a fic from me. It can be about anything, Gundam related of course, but no lemons because everything I write also goes on my site, which is child safe. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: Why do you think I would own this?? I don't own anything….Sometimes being a chibi sucks….But then, so does missing my vacation…..And I spent all my money to pay the expenses!!!!! I don't even have a penny now! //weep// But anyway, on to the fic!

~6 months later~

~riiing~ ~riiing~

Duo moaned a little and rolled over. "Hilde…the phone's ringing."

Hilde groaned in return, "The phone's on your side of the bed, Duo…..Why in hell would anybody be calling at 3 AM?"

"I bet it's one of the guys trying to get back at me for some prank…." His next words were muffled as he pressed the button on the phone. "Whoever the hell you are, you better have a damn good reason for calling me on my wedding night……"

The response came in the form of a derisive snort and a high pitched giggle that ended in a stifled sob. "I hope we weren't interrupting anything….."

"No, but if you'd called an hour ago, I can promise that I would have unplugged the phone."

"Duo, open your eyes."

Duo opened his eyes the rest of the way and looked at the screen. "Heero! Relena! You're alive!! I don't believe it, it's been six months since anyone's heard from you! How did you get out?" Duo said in a rush. Beside him, Hilde jumped, and Duo felt her hand on his bare shoulder as she peeked around him at the phone. 

"That's for me to know, Duo," Heero replied, his face deviod of emotion. 

"Sure. I'm just glad to see that you're both okay. Why didn't you contact anyone sooner? Where are ya, buddy?" Duo asked.

"We're hiding; I can't say where. It was too dangerous for us to call before, it's still not safe for us to come out of hiding…Duo, we have a favor to ask of you…" Heero looked down, and Relena made no effort to stop her tears.

"Sure, Heero, anything. Anything at all. What's the favor?"

Heero paused. "I hate having to ask this…." he muttered, "Duo, do you think that you and Hilde could keep Faith for us? I-I'd really rather have her here with us…but it's just not safe…"

"Yeah, we don't mind, Heero. Not a bit. Faith's been with us ever since the bombing anyway. Well, she's with Quatre and Dorothy this week, though. It, um, would have been just a bit awkward for us to bring her along on our honeymoon."

"Are you ever serious, Duo? Oh, um, congratulations, by the way," Heero mumbled.

"It's alright if she stays with us, Heero. Please, Relena, don't cry. Everything will be alright soon," Hilde said.

"Heero, there's something I want you to do for me since we're watching Faith for you…." Duo trailed off, hoping his request wouldn't annoy Heero too much.

"What is it, Duo?" 

"Promise me that when all this is over you'll come back to her. Even if it takes you so long that you're both all old and bent up. Faith deserves to know that her real family is out there somewhere."

Heero sort of smiled. Well, it was really more like a twitch of his upper lip. "Of course, Duo. We'll come back to her. No matter how long it takes to settle this."

"Good. And you better not forget that either, Yuy, or I'll have to hunt you down myself and kick your ass. Got it?"

This time it was Relena who answered. "Yes. I'm sorry, Duo, to leave you with this burden, but we just can't put Faith in danger…" Relena turned, sobbing softly into Heero's shirt. Heero looked down at his weeping wife and pressed the button that would terminate the call.

"Geez…He never was one for goodbyes," Duo muttered. "I wonder how Quatre's doing with Faith? He said he could handle her, but I think maybe we should call and check in the morning, huh, Hilde?"

No answer. Her hand was still on his shoulder, and he could feel her chin resting on his arm. "Hilde? You awake?"

Duo only sighed and decided to go back to sleep himself. After all, what else was there to do? He didn't think Quatre or Dorothy would be too terribly happy if he called them at this hour, and Faith was probably behaving herself.

A/N: Alright, I got the plot established. For the next chapter, we are going to go far into the future. Twelve years into the future in fact. What could possibly happen in that amount of time? Will Faith grow up happy and safe? Will Heero and Relena keep their promise to Duo? Whathappens to the other pilots as life leads them along its merry way? All these questions and more, yes more, will be answered in the next chapter, which will hopefully be longer than any of these others. And don't forget about the misspelled word thing! But review anyway. It makes me feel all warm and squishy inside! ^_^

Oh, and just so ya know, all flames will be removed, then sliced, diced, cooked to a golden brown and fed to Robyn_Windsong's dragons. 


	5. Chapter 4-Look who's come to visit

A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to get this up. I've been sick a lot lately it seems…..And I've been having computer problems too, so don't expect anymore for a while….this hunk of junk is touch and go right now…..

 This chapter starts with a flashback from when Faith was seven, then goes five years into the future. The part in italics is the flashback, just so ya know. Please review!! 

Disclaimer: I own nothing!!! Especially Gundam Wing. In fact, I don't even have any models…. 

_"Aunt Hilde, who are these people?" Seven-year-old Faith pointed at the picture for Hilde to see. Of course, Hilde recognized it immediately as the last one Heero and Relena had taken with their daughter before the bombing. They were quite the happy family in the picture, Heero was standing with an arm over Relena's shoulders, and Faith was sitting in her mother's lap. All three were beaming at the camera; a picture-perfect moment._

_"Sweetie, that's a picture of you and your parents. You must have been around two years old when that was taken. If I remember right, it was a few days before Christmas, and your mother wanted to have a picture of the family to send to her brother on Mars."_

_"Oh." Faith was silent for a few moments, looking at the picture. She knew her parents were dead, though no one had ever said the exact words. The most she'd ever been able to get from anyone was that they were gone, but they would come back soon._

_"Aunt Hilde," Faith said softly, "what were they like?"_

_Hilde looked down into Faith's Prussian eyes and saw that Faith really wanted an honest answer, not just a brush off. She took a deep breath before beginning to talk about two of her dearest friends._

_Duo had walked in on them later that afternoon. Hilde had told Faith everything she could about Heero and Relena before she burst into tears. Duo found them that way, with Hilde sobbing on Faith's shoulder, and Faith begging her aunt to stop crying. When he saw what they had been doing, Duo took the old photo album off Hilde's lap and handed it to Faith._

_"Their wedding pictures are in here too, Ladybug," he said to her. "Why not go upstairs and look at them in your room while I talk to your Aunt Hilde for a little while?"_

"Alright, Uncle Duo. Please don't cry anymore, Aunt Hilde-it's not good for you in your condition. They died a long time ago, I'm sure they wouldn't want you to still be crying for them," Faith said softly as she went up the stairs, clutching the album like it was the last life preserver on a sinking ship.

_Duo watched her go, and when her bedroom door had closed he shook his head and sighed. "Babe, I'm beginning to wonder if we should have told her everything in the first place. It would have saved us all a lot of pain and trouble."_

_Hilde only sniffled and snuggled closer to him, weeping her frustrations into his shirt. Duo cuddled his pregnant wife as close as he could, and let her cry herself to sleep before carrying her upstairs to bed and curling up next to her._

~*~ End Flashback ~*~

Faith smiled sadly and put the album back in her book shelf. It always made her feel funny to look at the pictures of her parents. In most of them, they looked so happy together, especially her mother. It was harder to tell with her father, but she sensed his happiness when she looked at his picture. She only wished that she had been able to know them better.

The doorbell rang, drawing Faith from the past into the present. Faith laughed, thinking it was Sara-Jane and Charlotte coming  to pick her up so they could get ready for the dance recital they had that afternoon. Either that or Marielle, their next door neighbor, bringing the twins home from little league practice. She grabbed her duffle bag off her dresser and ran out her bedroom door.

"I'll get it!" she called, bounding down the stairs and through the hall to the door.

"Faith!" Hilde yelled from the kitchen, "Don't run in the house! You're going to fall and break your neck one of these days!"

Faith sighed and slowed down. "Yes, Aunt Hilde," she said, walking down the hall to the front door.

Duo grinned over the edge of his paper. Faith was always so eager, especially when it came to answering the phone or the door. He was just glad that she hadn't gotten the phone during one of Heero's late night phone calls. But wouldn't Heero be surprised to see her now; at twelve Faith was nearly six inches taller than Hilde, and she looked like a female version of her father when Duo had first met him. The door creaked open, and there was silence for a moment and then a crash. 

"Who's here, Ladybug?"  Duo asked. When Faith didn't answer, he put the comics section of the paper down and went to the door himself. 

The only thing Duo saw was Faith lying unconscious on the floor. He forgot about everything else, including the person at the door and Hilde's favorite vase, which was lying in pieces across the threshold. 

"Faith, wake up," he murmured, kneeling and gently smacking her cheeks. Their guest came and knelt next to him, fishing in his pocket.

"Here," he said, handing Duo a small tablet. "I always keep a of these few on hand; they're good to have around when your wife's a politician."

Duo thanked the man, not thinking about the familiar silhouette caused by the sun at his back, or the stabbing feeling Duo got from hearing his voice. He snapped the tablet in half and waved the pungent substance over Faith's nose, making her twitch and groan.

"Ya might wanna get back, buddy," Duo finally said. "When she wakes up, she wakes up swingin' if ya know what I mean. You might end up with a black eye or two if you get too close to her right now."

Faith twitched again and opened her eyes. Bleary and unfocused, they traveled from Duo's face to the guest's and back. "Uncle Duo," she said quietly, "Make the dead people go away." 

She fainted again before Duo could find out what she meant. He only shook his head and picked her up, then turned to apologize to the visitor. "Sorry. She's usually not like this…I don't know what's gotten into her-"

"You told her we were _dead_, Duo?" The sudden realization of the man's identity hit Duo in the face, and he felt like fainting himself.

"He-Heero? It's you?! Wh-what are you doing here?" Duo managed to stammer, looking into those cold, Prussian eyes.

"You made me promise to come back to her as soon as it was safe, Duo. I remembered that, did you? And why did you tell her we were dead?" Heero asked, annoyed. 

"I never did tell her you were dead. She asked about you, and we always told her that the two of you were gone, but you'd come back someday. She got that idea herself, Heero."

"Hn," was all Heero would say. Duo rolled his eyes. Some things would never change; mountains, oceans, Heero Yuy. Not to mention very few other things.

"Come inside, Hilde will be pissed if we stand in the hall with the door open all day. Where's Relena?" Duo led the way back down the hall with Faith in his arms. For a minute he considered handing her to Heero, but realizing that this would probably be his last chance to hold her, he decided not to.

"She's back in the Sanq Kingdom with a cold. She wanted to come herself, but since she couldn't she made me come here instead. Even after all this time she still misses Faith like crazy."

"Ah," Duo replied, setting Faith down on the couch. She grumbled and stirred, but Duo decided to leave her alone for once. Any other time, he would have taken her into the backyard and dumped her into the pool just for the fun of it. But then she would have reached up and pulled him in too, and they would end up getting into a splash fight, which would turn into chasing each other around the yard until Faith managed to catch up with Duo and tackle him. Then the twins would more than likely throw themselves into the middle of it all, and someone would end up being tickled senseless until Hilde came outside and broke it up.

"Will she be alright?" Heero asked, after standing still as a statue for five straight minutes. 

"Yeah. She doesn't react well to unexpected situations. You could have called first, you know. What if we weren't home or something?" Duo asked, annoyed at Heero's bad timing.

"I couldn't find a pay phone."

Duo rolled his eyes. As if Heero needed a pay phone. He probably had a phone in his pocket. Stupid excuse, but typical Heero. The man would never change.

"Fine. What about email? Or even a letter! You could have sent something, Heero!" Duo said, banging his head against the couch arm. Faith groaned again and opened her eyes a crack. Heero saw, but only said, "I left a message on your answering machine two weeks ago."

"Would that be the order of a large pizza with extra toppings? In Japanese?" Faith asked, sitting up.

"I guess that's why the pizza never came…" Heero muttered.

The doorbell rang again, and Faith jumped. Duo frowned at her and got up to get the door himself, leaving Faith and Heero alone together. Faith looked at Heero warily and tried not to be too obvious when she scooted to the other end of the couch, and then followed Duo to see who was at the door. Sara-Jane and Charlotte were right on time.

"Faith!" they squealed when they saw her. 

"We knew you were making fun of us, Mr. Maxwell," Charlotte giggled. Duo rolled his eyes at her.

"How many times do I have to tell you, my name is Duo, not Mr. Maxwell?" 

"Uncle Duuuooo!" Sara-Jane squeaked, "If you don't get out of the doorway, we won't get there on time!"

"See? She even calls me Uncle Duo," Duo said to Charlotte, who stuck out her tongue. "Girls, I don't know if I should let Faith go to the program; she passed out a few minutes ago."

"But I'm fine now, Uncle Duo!" Faith protested. "And I have to go or the rest of the group won't be able to compete!" 

"Pleeease!!" The girls begged, looking up at him with three pairs of starry eyes. Duo sighed. He was getting to be as vulnerable as Hilde when it came to the puppy face. Duo gulped.

"No, I'm afraid not. I'm sure you can manage without her just this one time."

"Awww....Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Tell ya what, though. Come back after the show, and we'll all go somewhere and grab something to eat. Or else, we'll order a pizza and stay here for a while."

"Okay....Bye, Mr. Maxwell. We'll be back later."

Sara-Jane and Charlotte left, and Duo shut the door. Faith was watching him with wide eyes; he ruffled her hair and she managed a weak grin.

"Go upstairs and lie down for a little while, ladybug. I'll come talk to you later, okay?"

Faith nodded and did as she was asked.

A/N: Alrighty, if you don't get things so far, here's what's going on. Faith is Heero and Relena's daughter who has grown up with Duo and Hilde. At this point in the story, she's twelve years old. The flashback takes place when she's seven. Heero comes to get her, and things don't go very well. Oh…and Heero's mistake with the pizza turns out to be a whopper later on….I mean, it's got some bad results. And now for the characters. These are listed in no particular order.

Marielle-The Maxwell's next door neighbor. Her kids and the twins are on the same little league team, so Marielle has started a carpool.

Adam and Alex-Duo and Hilde's five year old twins. Incredibly hyper, more about them in the next chapter.

Sara-Jane and Charlotte-Faith's two best friends. Sara-Jane insists on both of her names being used, she won't go by just one. Charlotte has been raised to be very polite and proper, a habit which Duo continually tries to break.

And in our next chapter….when I manage to get it out……We will have a nice conversation with Heero (Hilde won't let the guys fight in the house).


	6. Chapter 5-I don't wanna go home.

When Duo came back into the living room, he found Hilde nearly strangling Heero with a joyous hug. It took nearly all Heero's effort to pry Hilde off of his neck without hurting her in the process.

"Go hug your husband, Hilde. Let me go."  

"Duo, does Faith know that Heero's here?" Hilde asked. 

"Yeah, babe. She's upstairs in her room-I don't think she's handling this too well."

Heero glared at Duo. "If you hadn't told her I was dead-"

"Heero, calm down. You're going to kill someone by looking at them like that one day...What did you expect us to tell her? You didn't say what you wanted her to know...I guess I'll go check on her." Hilde looked from Heero to Duo and back again. "And no fighting in the house, either."

Hilde got up and walked calmly upstairs before either of the guys could reply. Heero watched her leave before looking back at Duo.

"You told her we were dead, Duo?" he asked again, eyes cold.

Duo sighed. It wasn't like Heero to repeat himself. "For the last time, no! We didn't tell Faith anything about you, Heero, and she never asked. What was she supposed to think? I mean, it's not like you ever did anything for her! Never called, or wrote, you never even sent her a goddamn card on her goddamn birthday!!"

"You're forgetting, Duo, that Relena and I were trying to stay low," Heero growled.

"Don't pull that crap with me, Heero! It might work with someone who doesn't know you, but not with me! I know for a fact that you don't have any trouble getting a secure phone line hooked up, or sending someone a letter that's untraceable." Duo glared at Heero, who just sat there like a lump of granite.

"Do you even know when her birthday is, Heero? Or how old she is, at least?" 

"No, I don't."

"You don't what?" 

"I don't know when her birthday is, but she's ten. Are you happy now, Duo?"

"It's June fucking seventeenth, Heero. She isn't ten, she's twelve. And no, Heero, I'm not happy. How in the world can you do this?"

"I don't have much choice, do I, Duo? I promised, remember?"

"Heero," Duo said between clenched teeth, "If that is the only reason you came back, you can leave right now and forget about Faith and the rest of us."

"I came back because I had to. And Relena misses Faith even if I don't know what to do with her."

Duo was about to make another scathing reply, but the front door swung open again. Duo barely managed to turn in time to avoid being hurt by two human cannonballs. They still knocked him down, but the force wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"Daddy!"  
  


"Dad!" 

"Hey! So, did practice go alright?"

"Yeah!" both boys answered at once. Duo grinned and ruffled their hair.

"Adam, Alex," Duo said, determined to make this good, "I'd like to introduce you to your Uncle Heero. Why don't you go say hello?"

The twins excitedly jumped into Heero's lap at the same time, startling him. "Hi, Uncle Heero!". 

Heero shuddered. "Heaven help us. Duo has reproduced. And there are two of them."

"Hey! They're mine too!" Hilde protested from the top of the stairs. "Boys, get off of him and go change out of your uniforms."

The twins jumped off Heero's lap and were upstairs before anyone could say another word. Hilde was tempted to laugh at them, but she didn't want Heero to think she was laughing at him. Looking closely, Hilde could see how much Duo's best friend had changed since she had last seen him. Even though he was barely thirty, there were strands of gray in his hair. His bright, Prussian eyes were as cold as ever, but they were bloodshot and weary as well.

_Poor Heero,_ she thought. _He must have been through so much. Maybe I should try talking Duo into going a little easier on him._

***

The lights were out in Faith's room, and the curtains had been closed. Hilde shut the door behind her quietly in case Faith had actually decided to rest for a little while.

"Aunt Hilde?"

"Faith. Do you want to talk about anything?"

"Aunt Hilde, why did all this happen? How come nobody ever told me my real parents were alive?"

Hilde sighed and sat down on the bed. "It's a long story, Faith, and I'm not sure how much Heero and Relena want you to know. I don't really think it's my place to tell you at all, sweetheart, especially since they know much more about the situation than I do."

"Oh."

Faith closed her eyes and curled up with her head on Hilde's lap. "Aunt Hilde?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to go with him, don't I?" Faith shivered and pulled the sheets over herself. "I don't want to."

"Why not? I thought you would like to live with your real family."

"I dunno, Aunt Hilde...He just seems so cold. Like the kind of person who wouldn't want a kid around to get in the way."

"Heero is that way sometimes; he's always been like that, but it isn't his fault. You see, Faith, when he was young; about as old as the twins, he was put into a plan to take over the Earth called Operation Meteor. The people there rewired his brain, trying to eliminate his humanity and turn him into a perfect soldier. Heero will never be able to change, and we just have to remember that."

"Oh. That's sad, Aunt Hilde."

"Yes. But things are peaceful now, Faith. Be glad that Heero fought his training enough to try and save the Earth rather than destroy it."

"I'll try."

"That's all we can ask, Faith. Here, get off me; I need to go make sure Duo doesn't try to kill your dad for something stupid, alright?"

"Okay. I want to stay up here for now, Aunt Hilde."

"Sure, Faith. I won't let them bother you."

"Thanks."

A/N: This sucks big time, but oh well. Next chapter: fairly unplanned so far, though I'm probably gonna send Faith back down to Earth. 


End file.
